Memory, Sorrow and Thorn meets Lord of the Rings
by Nuriko Kamaiji
Summary: Characters from Tad Willima's fantasy novel, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, meet with those from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Just something I had to do some day.


Lord of the Rings meets Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by: Nuriko Kamaiji

_This came about after watching the Extended Version of 'Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'_

* * *

Whispers at the Angel's Ears

_This truth drives me to madness_

_I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away_

_Don't turn away_

_Don't try to hide_

_Don't close you're eyes_

_Don't turn out the lights_

_I'm frightened by what I see_

_But somehow I know there's much more to come…_

Whisper by Evanescence

A tall tower looms in the morning sky. Briefs remnants of the rosy dawn still linger, trails of brilliant gold hovering on the edges. Atop its summit sits a graceful angel, shimmering pure white in the sunlight.

Inside the tower there is a medium sized room with large arches that offer a wide view of the surrounding castle keep. Also inside stand two figures, one nearly half the size of the other, clearly ill at ease with the whole situation.

"Excuse me, but what exactly is the point of this?"

(be quiet. It's not supposed to make sense. I mean look at Green Angel Tower, fer cryin' out loud!-NK)

"What?"

The other one, dark haired with exotic almond shaped eyes, answers. "My people built this, long ago when Asu'a belonged to us." Ineluki looks down at the shorter one, his burning eyes slightly curious.

"My name is Frodo Baggins, hobbit of the Shire." A small pause. "But I'm really supposed to be in the Undying Lands, in Valinor since well…my wounds were too deep."

"Ah. I believe I'm supposed to have vanished into the darkness of Night. But it seems the authoress decided to bring me back for awhile."

(it's only for a short while. Tad Williams is your real author, I'm just borrowing you for a while. Oh yeah, all characters, concepts and places from Memory, Sorrow and Thorn are copyright and owned by Tad Williams. And all characters, concepts and places from Lord of the Rings are copyrighted and owned by Professor Tolkien. Yes I know he's dead but he did write it and _that's _what I'm trying to refer to here. I'm obviously not making anything off this, seeing as I have no job yet. Ahem-NK)

"That was an awful long bit there."

"Regardless, it seems neither of us is supposed to be here." Ineluki is quiet a moment. "Though the last time I was here it was all on fire. Just as it was that day I was consumed."

Frodo blinks at the Storm King's words. "That sounds similar to what happened to me."

Rising his fingers in an odd gesture, Ineluki tilts his head to look at Frodo, his eyes glinting in the light like a feline.

"I was at the Cracks of Mount Doom. I had been sent to destroy the One Ring, to send it into the fires to unmake it, to end forever the dark power of Sauron."

"Hm…perhaps I should have been with him"

"Why do you say that?"

"I meant to turn back time and finally get my revenge on the human's who had destroyed us and our home. All I had was my rage and it kept me alive in dark places even beyond death. I thrived in the dark."

No one says anything as time passes slowly by. A brittle wind howls across the angel's wings.

"Do you have any idea why we are here, at Asu'a?"

The wind's screech grows louder then just as suddenly dims, falling into a quiet hush.

"You say you were consumed? By the Ring you must mean." The immortal looks out across the openings of Green Angel Tower. Dark waves of briny water churn and tumble in the Kynslaugh.

"It had been growing on my mind, through all that I bore it. As a wheel of fire it became, burning and brandishing my mind and memory, as it ate away what I was."

"The Ring burned you to your core until you were nothing left."

The hobbit looks down, seeming confused by the conversation. "It was not like that exactly. It should never have been made. Long ago, in the lands of Eregion, the Dark Lord tricked the Elves there, teaching them the craft of making great Rings of Power. In secret he forged his own, the One Ring, into which he put all of his power, all of malice and all of himself. He lost it to Isildur, who cut it from his finger."

"By chance it fell into your hands."

He nods even though the Sitha is not looking. "After that Sauron became nothing more than a shadow for a time, but over the many long years he began to grow stronger, searching out for the Ring, with all his might."

"Because it was all he had. He had nothing left of himself."

"Yes. It was that way it the end."

"Then it seems it would have been best to have me meet with him for I had nothing left of myself."

Frodo moves over to the edge of the tower to peer over the edge. The sunlight has grown stronger turning the sky to a silky aquamarine blue.

"Even if I did not go mad when the Ring was unmade, I did not destroy it. I claimed it for myself at the end. That is what I meant when I said I was consumed."

"And yet you still live."

"Perhaps. But there was nothing left for me. I had been too deeply wounded, by sting and blade and a heavy burden. There was no rest for me left in Middle-Earth."

"There was no rest for me, whether in death or otherwise."

The silence stretches again. A bird calls in the distant, answered by another.

Looking nervously over at the golden-skinned immortal a few feet away from him, Frodo watches him with clear eyes. His expression changes, a small nuance in the hobbit's face leaves him staring calmly.

"You said you were consumed as well. By what?"

Alien eyes stare hard into the clashing waters. In the mounting light the seas of the bay have turned a hazy midnight blue trimmed with lines of white gold.

"By the rage that had formed inside me." The soft whistle of a nightingale sings through the dawn. "They came out of the north, men with weapons of iron. There had already been many men in Osten Ard and my people had allowed them as long as they kept to themselves. They were not entirely harmful and there was a kind of peace. But then the long ships came across the seas filled with Rimmersmen seeking lands to claim and to pillage. They brought with them the foreign metal of iron, and found that my people could not stand its touch. By the Garden, they were fierce, like wild beasts." His eyes burn brighter, an unquenchable fire smoldering there. "Slowly they drove our people to a last stand at Asu'a."

Abruptly, Ineluki turns to Frodo, gazing directly into the hobbit's eyes. "Most, if not all, of my kin were resigned to their fate, singing hymns of final resting. They were expecting to die, they were waiting for it. But I could not believe that. Ever since we had come from our Gardenhome, we had lived with a shadow on our hearts. We were strong and wise yet none would stand against the wave of destruction that was coming. I could not stand it. I refused to let all that we had built be overrun so easily. I would not let them take our home and pride from us."

The Storm King turns back to watching the Kynslaugh chase its waves, to and fro, in the bay below.

"You did it to save your people as I did."

In an expression perhaps of surprise, Ineluki's eyes widen and he turns back to Frodo, who stares at him unblinking.

"It is something of the same. You were not quite like Sauron, though you threatened the world you knew. But in the end, you're actions were not like his. You wished simply to save your people. You did not mean to become as you did. You gave up everything for them." Frodo pauses and his eyes drift away toward the smoky blue of the bay that had previously occupied Ineluki's attention. "As I did. But I was given a chance for rest and to heal. I was allowed into the Uttermost West, to Valinor."

A shadow falls from overhead as a cloud glides across the sun, blocking the light. Neither speaks as the shady darkness hangs around them both, a cloak of silence having formed in the shadows. Then the light slips back out, somehow dimmer despite the lengthening of the morning.

Ineluki voices cracks through the stillness, icy black. "There are some who are given rest and there are those who are only here to be rejected. They are spurned and left alone in the darkness until they are nothing. As your Dark Lord was, as I was."

Frodo does not answer immediately but says quietly, "Despite that, there is still the truth there."

A slim dark eyebrow rises in inquiry, the action vaguely distorted.

The Ringbearer gives a small smile, though for the kindness in the action there seems something sad in his eyes. "Darkness and fire can consume your soul and sometimes you can never truly escape the pain, at least not in waking world, but surely, somewhere, the meaning of your deeds will reach…so that you may know peace at last."

"Not everyone is given peace. They must learn to live with that." Silence. The clouds are billowing, grey wisps in a cold wind. "When you reach your Valinor again, and by any chance that I may meet you again, Frodo Baggins, tell me if there is a soul by the name of Hakatri there, in your land of Healing, for that would be enough comfort in my darkness."

"I give you my word."

The skies darken as the clouds overcome the sun. Thunder rumbles on the horizon as a storm comes marching over the Aldheorte. Green Angel Tower stands broken in the fresh rain, a rumble of burned stoned.

_Catch me as I fall_

_Say you're here_

_And it's all over now_

_Speaking to the utmost fear_

_No one's here _

_And I fall into myself…_

* * *

Next up: Maegwin and Éowyn meet in on the Dream Road or Simon and Sam meet under the party tree in the Shire


End file.
